Channels air Gaza aid appeal despite BBC and Sky refusal

Britain's commercial terrestrial broadcasters this evening went ahead with a humanitarian aid appeal for Gaza, despite Sky News joining the BBC in refusing to screen it.

Pressure mounted on the BBC throughout the day to back down on its decision to reject the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella group of humanitarian charities including Oxfam, Save the Children and the Red Cross, but it resisted, saying to broadcast the film risked compromising its impartiality.

The BBC confirmed it had received 15,500 complaints over its decision, while its own staff and broadcasting unions joined in the criticism.

The two-minute appeal, which featured a professional voiceover on top of images of the recent conflict in Gaza, aired first on ITV1 at 6.25pm, just before the channel's main evening news. It was due to be followed by Channel Five at 7.25pm and Channel 4 at 7.50pm.

Before the appeal aired on ITV1, a continuity announcer warned: "Viewers might find some images distressing."

At the beginning of the film, the voiceover said: "This is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict, these people simply need your help."

However, Sky News this morning joined the BBC in refusing to show the film. "The absolute impartiality of our output is fundamental to Sky News and its journalism," the head of Sky News, John Ryley, said.

"That is why, after very careful consideration, we have concluded that broadcasting an appeal for Gaza at this time is incompatible with our role in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation to our audiences in the UK and around the world."

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, ruled out a change of policy, saying the corporation had a duty to cover the issue in a "balanced, objective way".

"Of course, everyone is struck by the human consequences of what has happened," he told Radio 4's Today programme. "And we will, I promise you, continue to report that as fully and as compassionately as we can. But we are going to do it in a way where we can hold it up to scrutiny. It's our job as journalists."

He denied his "arm had been twisted" by pro-Israeli lobbyists and said the BBC would continue to cover the humanitarian dimension of a "complicated and deeply contentious story".

However, he conceded that one of the BBC's initial objections to the DEC appeal – that delivering aid to victims would be difficult – had "diminished" as a barrier.

Most of the hostile reaction from critics of the decision was directed towards the publicly funded BBC. The Stop the War Coalition said there would be a "collective return" of television licences at protests outside Broadcasting House in London and other BBC centres around the country.

A statement from the coalition said that a number of its supporters had already informed them that they had written to the BBC saying they had cancelled their direct debit for their television licence.

The BBC was also condemned by the general secretaries of broadcasting unions the National Union of Journalists and Bectu, who branded the decision not to screen the appeal as "cowardly."

In a joint letter, Jeremy Dear and Gerry Morrissey – who together represent thousands of BBC staff – said the move risked being seen as "politically motivated".

"The humanitarian crisis, in which innocent children are suffering, is likely to be prolonged as a result of the corporation's decision," they said.

"The justifications given for the decision ... appear to us cowardly and in danger of being seen as politically motivated and biased in favour of Israel.

"We, above all, understand the BBC's need to maintain editorial impartiality and we also understand the pressure journalists and the BBC come under from those who accuse the BBC of bias in reporting the Middle East.

"That said, we agree with those senior BBC journalists who say this is a decision taken as a result of timidity by BBC management in the face of such pressures.

"Far from avoiding the compromise of the BBC's impartiality, this move has breached those same BBC rules by showing a bias in favour of Israel at the expense of 1.5 million Palestinian civilians suffering an acute humanitarian crisis."

The two men asked why Israel was being treated differently when the BBC broadcast a DEC appeal about the Burmese cyclone in May 2008 despite it being an ongoing news story.

"Our members feel this makes the BBC appear pro-Israeli and indifferent to the plight of the victims of this conflict," they said. "How can airing such an appeal risk compromising the BBC's impartiality? We believe the BBC's decision not to show the appeal is wrong and we urge you to reconsider."

Meanwhile, the BBC is facing a growing revolt from its own journalists, with sources reporting "widespread disgust" within its newsrooms. However, BBC staff have said they have been told they face the sack if they speak out on the issue.

Sources said there was "fury" at the BBC News morning meeting today about the decision, with news editors saying they had not been consulted on the move to not show the appeal.

"Feelings are running extremely high and there is widespread disgust at the BBC's top management," one BBC News source said. "There is widespread anger and frustration at the BBC's refusal to allow people to speak out about it."

Members of the NUJ at London's Television Centre are expected to tomorrow pass a resolution condemning the BBC's decision.

Sources within the BBC have questioned whether its internal Balen report into its Middle East coverage, which the corporation has refused to publish, has influenced its decision on the DEC appeal. An appeal to the House of Lords to force the BBC to publish the report is currently ongoing.

The prime minister's spokesman insisted the government was not going to "second-guess" a decision that was the BBC's to make. However, he added: "Clearly we support the appeal." An advert highlighting the DEC appeal was later placed on the Downing Street website.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, an elected body representing Jewish people in the UK, said they would reserve judgment on the appeal until they had seen it.

A spokesman said the organisation did not object in principle to the concept of a Gaza appeal but added that its view would depend on how the plea was executed.

"It's unreasonable to make a judgment about an appeal that no one has seen," he said. "It could be 100% reasonable and extremely important or it could be 100% unreasonable and biased – it could go either way."

The criticism of the BBC comes as more light has been shed on how the BBC reached its decision. The Guardian understands that Thompson consulted members of the BBC's appeals advisory committee, made up of representatives from NGOs and international charities, who raised concerns about the delivery of aid. He also held a meeting with six senior BBC executives, including deputy director Mark Byford, who voted unanimously to veto the appeal.

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